The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

BOSTON – Brandon Bass has always been a player who has longed to see himself in the spotlight, but has never seemed entirely comfortable while actually in it.

Following his 20-point performance in Wednesday’s 97-87 victory against the Utah Jazz – the Celtics’ first of the season and first under coach Brad Stevens – the spotlight was bright on the veteran forward, who scored six of Boston’s eight points in the triumph.

"He made a couple of key jump shots that helped us keep that gap," teammate Jeff Green said. "That was big for us. We went into a slump where we couldn’t make a shot, but those shots from him really helped us out. They kept our offensive confidence up, and got us the win."

When it came time for Bass to talk, he sought the assistance of locker neighbor Jared Sullinger handing him a small towel to twice wipe beads of sweat from his brow as he spoke in front of an unusually large media horde. At one point, Celtics PR chief Jeff Twiss passed a reporter a full bath towel to give to Bass, and he briefly thought the media was mocking him for his inability to keep his cool under pressure, before he was told the towel was courtesy of the team.

Yet, it was exactly the power forward’s ability to keep his cool in crunch time, and make plays as the Celtics were in danger of squandering a massive lead on their homecourt for the second straight game, that made him the star of the game.

"We wanted this win very bad," he said. "We needed it. The guys stayed together down the stretch and were able to pull it out."

Bass said he learned from how the team blew the 22-point lead against the Milwaukee Bucks in the home opener on Friday – after which teammate Gerald Wallace said the players began playing "selfishly" and looked to pad stats rather than close out the victory. He said he took a slightly different approach Wednesday as a 25-point lead in the third quarter was chiseled to six with less than six minutes to play.

"I definitely thought about that – taking it on my shoulders," he said. "But I kind of did that last home game and it didn’t go our way. So tonight I definitely wanted to use my teammates, and move the ball more, and not kind of take it upon myself to do things, and do things to get us over the hump."

Bass had a three-point play that would later loom large early in the fourth quarter when the Jazz began their run, then had two jumpers, a blocked shot and a breakaway dunk from Avery Bradley to help close out the victory in the final minutes.

"Brandon Bass was good tonight," Stevens said. "He’s been pretty consistent all the way through. I don’t know if he’s our leading scorer right now, but he’s got to be close – him or Jeff. That’s a good thing moving forward."

Bass hit 9-of-15 shots on Wednesday for his season-high of 20 points. Twice, he’s hit the 17-point mark this season and sits second on the team in both scoring and rebounding at 13.2 and 5.4, respectively, after grabbing four rebounds against the Jazz.

"I just think that from over the years, with me playing different roles, tonight I was able to put it all together defensively, offensively," he said. "I could have done better on the boards. But that’s why there’s always tomorrow’s practice and then another game.

"I just think that my teammates found me tonight in different spots," he soon added. "That’s what I want to be able to bring to the table every night – whatever we need, whether it’s defensively trying to stop a player, getting all the rebounds, or scoring."

Scott Souza covers the Boston Celtics for the MetroWest Daily News and GateHouse Media. He can be reached at 978-340-8294 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @scott_souza.